Car-hoppers hit 15 vehicles in Annadale

Car-hoppers have struck in Annadale, leaving at least 15 motorists poorer for the experience.

Their swag included cell phones, a GPS system, some surveillance equipment, a digital camera, a $250 pair of sunglasses and loose change.

Those are typical takings for this crime of opportunity, which usually involves teenagers roaming a neighborhood in the wee hours, checking for unlocked cars doors and, once finding them, reaching in and walking away with valuables.

Monday night into Tuesday morning, the thieves hit Tallman Street and Lipsett and Stafford avenues. Residents told the Advance that five cars were broken into on both Tallman and Lipsett, and another five on Stafford Avenue.

For Tom De Lese, it was an unwelcome intrusion on his week-long vacation. De Lese, a display advertising sales representative for the Advance, said that on Tuesday about 8 a.m. he went to his 2006 Ford E-150 to fetch his cell phone.

He found the glove compartment open and items piled neatly on the passenger's seat. Puzzled but not yet alarmed, he checked his wife's 2001 Alero, thinking the phone might be there, only to see a similar neat pile on her front seat.

"That's when it hit me," said De Lese, 54, of Tallman Street.

The thieves' haul included his cell phone and a digital camera.

Glenn Incurto, 54, also of Tallman Street, said he accidentally left the door of his Nissan Xterra unlocked Monday night. Thieves walked off with his salesman's samples of beer, water and soda in a milk crate, as well as a surveillance system -- he'd planned to thwart thieves.

Incurto noted that relatively affluent Annadale is increasingly a thieving ground. He said he has lost expensive lawn chairs, hose reels, numerous holiday decorations and halogen lights.

"It's not epidemic, it's sporadic -- but you feel violated," he said.

Some residents admitted they're lulled into complacency. "You never think it will happen to you," said De Lese.

Car-hopping is a growing phenomenon, said Capt. Richard Gutch, commanding officer of the 123rd Police Precinct.

Police plead with people to lock their car doors, he said "but it's one of those things that it's easy to forget to do."

He continued: "People forget. They go out and everyone clicks the clicker ... you're walking away and you get distracted. They know they are going back to the car for something else and then they forget and go into the house."

Tallman Street resident Joe Scaglione, 44, who lost $5 in change to the thieves, is unrepentant. He said he doesn't feel violated and would still keep his car door unlocked. "I feel more sad," noted Scaglione.

Unemployed for seven months, he said he understands how a person might be driven to crime. "But I hope this doesn't become a regular thing. I don't want to move to Jersey."

"I feel it's a safe neighborhood, but something like this has to wake you up," said Incurto. "It could be any neighborhood, no one is safe."

Other areas in which car-hoppers have been active include Eltingville, Prince's Bay and Rossville.